Belle Reve Mardi Gras
by KoopaSensei
Summary: After learning that neither of his companions have ever attended Mardi Gras, The Doctor tries to remedy this mistake. Unfortunately, he lands the TARDIS in the United State's most secure prison by mistake.


"You're in for a treat, girls," the Doctor said, fiddling with the controls of the TARDIS console without looking at either of his companions. They'd all been talking about cultural celebrations, when out of nowhere something seemed to have occured to their Time Lord friend, and he'd spent the last half hour working in earnest to properly steer his time machine. The task seemingly finished, he pulled his hat from his golden locks and wiped the sweat from his brow. "You know, Peri, I still cannot believe you lived in the United States all your life and never got to experience Mardi Gras!"

The American woman standing near the wall of the room, watching her friend's efforts with bemusement, rolled her eyes before giving her answer. "Doctor, I know you see things on an intergalactic scale, but I'm from Baltimore. While I've always wanted to see the festival, the thirty-two hour drive there and back was a pretty big issue for me." She let out a little laugh before continuing, "Besides, I never took you for the type to go wild like that. You're too...proper."

"No matter one's station, there is nothing wrong with enjoying oneself during a time of celebration, Peri," Erimem chimed in, the Egyptian royal wearing what Peri had assured her was perfect 1980's fashion. "From your tone, I assume this 'Mardi Gras' involves some measure of sex and intoxication? I find it difficult to believe it is more untamed than my culture's own festivals."

Frowning a little, the Doctor straightened his beige suit and the celery attached to his lapel before turning to Peri and Erimem. "To tell you the truth, Peri, you're not far off the mark. I've never been one for 'going wild', as you put it, but I've been to my share of New Orleans bacchanalias, if only to enjoy the sights." At last, he pressed a few last glowing buttons on the console and the door opened. "Now then, 1988 awaits!"

When they emerged from the TARDIS doors to find themselves in a poorly lit, narrow, concrete hallway, Peri gave the Doctor a look. "You didn't tell me the party was going to already be in full swing, Doctor! How are we going to make our way through this crowd?"

The sarcasm was not lost on the long-lived alien, who looked around in confusion. "Now this can't be right...I know for certain we landed in 1988, the 16th of February, in New Orleans! At worst the drift coming in from the Time Vortex could have offset our destination a little in any dimension, but this doesn't seem right at all. Come on, let's see where we are." It didn't take more than five minutes of wandering through similar hallways before an alarm sounded. Whatever speaker was blasting it wasn't very far off. "Ah," the Doctor said, quite startled by the sudden cacophony. "I hadn't expected anything like this so soon. Well then, back to the TARDIS."

Unfortunately, before they were even halfway back to their transportation they turned a corner to find themselves staring at unexpected company. Standing before them, directly between them and the TARDIS, was a man in a yellow shirt with camouflage patterned pants, a gun in his hand that wasn't aimed yet at anyone. His eyes immediately ran over the trio, before locking in on the Doctor. "I don't know how you got in here, but you're in a restricted government facility. Come with me, and we can see about sorting this mess out." His voice was firm, yet polite.

A quick look behind him showed that they were truly trapped: behind the Doctor was a black man with short hair, wearing an orange costume and engaged in a martial arts stance. With seemingly no other option, The Doctor gave the armed man in front of him what he hoped was a jovial smile and said, "Ah, so sorry about that. If you'd prefer, we can just get back into our box and get out of your hair, yes?"

"We'll see about how you're getting home after you speak with Ms. Waller." His tone made no room for disagreement, and before long the TARDIS crew were following the man deeper into the facility, until then found themselves seated at a table in a nondescript room.

Sitting across from them, flanked by two armed guards, was a black woman of middle age and rotund physique, but whose eyes carried a strength of willpower that forced one to take her seriously. She didn't move to speak first, so The Doctor started. "Hello there, I assume you must be Ms. Waller. I'm The Doctor, and these are my friends, Peri and Erimem. I must apologise for intruding, but I assure you we aren't any sort of threat."

She seemed to take those words in for a few seconds before finding the right words to respond with. "I'll see about that. Is the box magic, super science, alien?" Waller waited, but didn't get a response. "I have security cameras, you know. I saw that thing materialize here. As you can tell from my subordinates, I have the ability to hold you here until you feel like talking."

It looked for a moment as if The Doctor was going to make a pithy comment about their ability to keep him captive, but before he could, Erimem interjected. "The TARDIS is alien technology," she supplied, "It can travel through time as well as space."

"Erimem!" Peri said, her tone scandalous.

The dark-skinned royal gave her friend an imperious look. "What would you have us do, Peri? This woman is in command here, and we have invaded her territory. The least we can do is answer her questions as best we can, especially when it's clear she can answer them for herself."

The smile that Amanda Waller gave Erimem added some warmth to her features. "Thank you for being reasonable, Ms. Erimem." Her attentions returned to The Doctor. "So, what kind of alien are you then? Raanian, Kryptonian, a New God, give me something to work with."

"New God?" the Doctor said with a laugh. "As much as my people enjoy pretending otherwise, we aren't deities. I'm a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey, but my companions are both human. Have you ever heard of UNIT? The United Nations Intelligence Task-Force? I worked with them for some time, if you could contact them I've sure they'd verify my story."

Amanda Waller nodded, then posed one last question. "What exactly are you doing here in Belle Reve Prison?"

The Doctor seemed happy to have an easy question to answer. "Ah, yes, that. Well, we were actually trying to attend Mardi Gras, but it seems my ship drifted a little too far in your direction. Like I told your friend earlier, if you let us go we'll just be on our way and you can forget we were ever here."

All in all, The Doctor shouldn't have been surprised to find himself soon afterwards standing in a jail cell, both of his friends having their own barred rooms adjacent to his. For a few hours he stayed quiet, letting his mind think over their imprisonment, listening to the muted conversations between Peri and Erimem. But when the artificial lights dimmed, signalling the beginning of night, and the guards left their stations, the Doctor pulled out a small metal device from his pocket and moved closer to the cell door, holding the gadget up to the cell's lock and activating, causing a high-pitched sound to fill the air.

Immediately, the Doctor heard his friends move closer to the sound, and Peri asked as quietly as she could (which wasn't very quiet at all, mind you), "Doctor, are you getting us out of here?"

After a few more seconds, the cell door clicked as it unlocked, and the Doctor quickly and quietly slipped out of his cell and moved to Peri's cell door to begin freeing her as well. As he worked, he explained in a whisper. "It's a little gadget of mine, one that can unlock the cell door and disable the alarm system from activating. Quite handy when one finds oneself locked up as often as I do."

A low voice in an accent that reminded the Doctor of his old companion Tegan spoke up in the neighboring cell. "Well, that's a right bit of tech there, mate. Why don't you help old Digger out, I'll be sure to return the favor."

Curious, the Doctor leaned over and saw in the cell a white man with brown hair and thick sideburns, his prison attire unremarkable aside from a metal bracelet attached to his right wrist. The Doctor knew he's met the man before, but it had been a few centuries for him since then, and all he could remember was that he was one of those costumed supervillains. "Sorry my good man, but I doubt you're here without good reason. Me and my friends will be leaving now." A few seconds later and Peri's door was open, both moving to Erimem's cell before they could hear more of the Australian's pleads for help.

Getting Erimem out was a simpler affair, but just before they were able to leave the detention area of the facility, a voice called out to them through the darkness, the inmate responsible a man in a goatee, his eyes sharp. "Well, well, well, Doctor. It's been awhile. Think you could spring out an old friend?"

The Doctor looked at the man, confused, before responding, "I believe you're mistaking me for someone else, I've never met you before." Even as the words left his mouth, he had a feeling that he already knew what was going on.

"Huh, you must be too young, then," the inmate replied. "In that case, I look forward to your patronage in your future, then." The man smiled, then let out a chuckle. "Whenever you find yourself needing someone taken out, discreetly, ask around Gotham for a man named Deadshot. I can already tell you that I didn't miss any of your targets."

Over the years, the Doctor would hear bits and pieces of what was to come for him, interactions with people who knew his future selves. More than a few alluded to the same sort of attitude this man was implying, a future where the Doctor would willingly hire an assassin, would be willing to throw away his ideals to attain some other goal. As he and his companions made their way back to the TARDIS and left the prison they'd found themselves in, the Doctor allowed himself a moment to fear the man he would one day become.

Amanda Waller, warden of Belle Reve Penitentiary and Administrator for the United States Government's top-secret Task Force X, watched on an analog screen as the TARDIS faded from view. "It's not surprising he was able to escape, ma'am," Rick Flag, her field leader for the team told her. "I was able to get his file, and it looks like he was telling the truth. If what UNIT has on him is true, he's escaped from far worse than Belle Reve."

The file he was referring to was several inches thick and sitting on her desk, and while she'd only skimmed through what they'd been able to gather on the alien, what she'd already seen was interesting. Nonetheless, Flag was top-of-the-line when it came to intelligence work, and despite their frequent disagreements she valued his opinion, even if she'd never say that outright. "How skilled is he?"

"If I didn't know, ma'am, I'd assume he was the best classically trained intelligence officer I've ever seen." Flag looked like he wasn't sure if he should be impressed by the man, or terrified. "He's helped topple several dangerous power structures, foiled more alien invasions than I knew existed, and seems to know more about science than any human being on the planet." He let out a small sigh before adding, "Though I'm not sure he'd take well to your management-style, Ms. Waller."

She took those words in, then gave the briefest of smiles. "I don't need him to enjoy it, as you well know." Then she took the file and placed it in her cabinet, in the drawer labeled 'Potential Recruits for Suicide Squad.'


End file.
